Eichaed smith



R. SMITH.

Self Feeding Tobacco Cutter.

No. 45,451. Patented Dec. 13, 1864.

L? f7@ vena 7, 77V effen L PATENT OEEI-CE.

n'ICHAnD sMITI-I, or sHEnnI-ICCIIE, CANADA.

SELF-FEEDING T OBACCO-CUTTER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,451, dated December13, 1864.

To a/ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD SMITH, of Sherbrooke, in the Province ofCanada West, have invented a new and useful Self-Feeding Tobacco-CutterDesigned for Manual Operation; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a front view of my invention inelevation; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line xx, Fig. l, Fig. 3, a vertical section of the same, taken in the line yy, Fig. l; Fig. 4, a vertical section of aportion of the same, taken inthe linee e, Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

This invention consists in the application of an automatic-feedingdevice to a tobacco-cutter, as hereinafter fully shown and described,whereby the device may be operated by hand, and the tobacco, in the plugor iig, cut of a uniform degree of iineness throughout.

A represents a base-plate, on which an upright frame, B, is permanentlysecured, said frame being composed of two upright columns, e a,connected by a curved or anchored top, b. This frame may be cast in twoequal parts, one-half of each column and of b being in a single piece,the columns being concave, and a space allowed between the parts of b toadmit ofthe insertion of a cam, C, the pivote of which passes through b.This cam has a handle or lever, D, connected with it of any suitablelength, and the cam and handle may be east in one piece.

E represents a knife-gate, the ends of which are fitted in the columns ae of the frame B, and have rods d attached to them, on which spiralsprings F are fitted, said springs being within the columns and having atendency to keep the knife-gate elevated and bearing against the cam C,as will be fully understood by referring to Fig. 3.

G representsa plate, thelow er edge of which is provided with smallteeth or points e. This plate extends the whole length of the knifegateE, and it is hung at each end on pivots or journals f f, which are ofoval form in their transverse section. These pivots or journals havetheir bearings in the ends of the knifegate E, and spiral springs H bearupon said journals, which, in consequence of their oval form, cause thesprings to press the upper part of the plate toward the knife-gate. (Seemore particularly Figs. 8 and 4.)

.I is a knife, which is attached to the gate E and extends the wholelength of the same,but does not project down as low as the toothed edgeof the plate G; and K is a setscrew,which passes through the plate G forthe purpose of determining the distance the upper part of the plate Gmay be from the knifegate. (See Fig. 3.)

At one side of the knife-gate E, at its upper part, there is a beveledprojection, L, the use of which will be presently shown.

M is a horizontal plate, which has a spiral spring, N, bearing upon eachend of it, and O is a sliding or adjustable gage placed on thebase-plate, and secured in position by a setscrew, I.

The plug or iig of tobacco is placed underneath the plate G, whichretains it inl proper position, the gage O serving as a guide inadjustingl the plug or fig under the plate G. The knife-gate E is forceddown by actuating the lever D, and the toothed edge of the plate G firstcomes in contact with the plug, the teeth penetrating it, and theknife-gate E being still depressed, the beveled projection L acts uponthe upper edge of plate G, and causes the lower edge of the same toforce the plug forward underneath the knife J, which reaches the plug bythe time the latter has been fed forward. After the irst cutis made thelever D and cam C are allowed to return to their original position bythe springs H, and the knife again forced down for a succeeding cut, andso on.

The length of the feed may be regulated according to the degree ofneness it is desired to cut the plug by adjusting the screw K.

Thus by this simple means I obtain an efficient automatic-feed mechanism4for a tobacco-cutter, one which will work or operate accurately andwithout the liability of becoming deranged by use.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent The applying to ahand tobacco-cutting machine of a feed mechanism constructed or composedof a toothed plate, G, operated from the knife-gate E, which is movedthrough the medium ofthe cam C, all arranged in the manner substantiallyas set forth.

RICHARD SMITH.

Vitnesses:

T. II. MoREHoUsE, W. G. COCKBURN.

